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Friday, May 29, 2015

There are currently some floods happening in Texas; but the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue in Austin was also not safe. However, the statue looked like it was walking on water, in a biblical reference to the importance and relevance of SRV to Texas and floods.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Uncle Jessie White was great Detroit bluesman, who moved there in 1950 from Mississippi; he played piano with The 29th Street Band for decades, landing his most famous album in 1991. He kept performing until his death in 2008.

Below is a track from the 1991 album Uncle Jessie White & The 29th Street Band:

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

I received the official word last night; I'l be performing a blues set at Beirut's Fête de la Musique on the 21st of June! The event will take place in various locations around Beirut; my set will be at Samir Kassir Square in Downtown, at 11:20pm.

This will be my first official gig in Beirut as a solo musician, and will also be my first official gig in Lebanon since 2005 (see more about my Beirut music journey here). I have discussed with my old band mates and they will be performing with me on stage, reunited after all this time.

All good things come to an end; kingdoms may rise and fall, but legacies endure the test of history.

Sad news this morning; the last king of the blues, one of the only remaining classic bluesmen, Riley B. King, most well known as B.B. King, has died at the age of 89.

I find it very difficult to grasp, that one of music's greatest pinnacles was currently in hospice and taken ill. It was inevitable, but we always don't like to admit it when the time comes.

I also had a shiver down my spine, as I performed one of his songs last night as a tribute; was it an omen?

B.B. King's legacy from his young upbringing in Mississippi, to capturing the audiences of all races and ages in the big cities is a huge success story; he won Grammys, countless Halls of Fames, hundreds of awards, and thousands of fans and proteges.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

This Thursday, Tarek Yamani, Lebanese jazz extraordinaire, will perform with his trio (Elie Afif / bass and Rony Afif / drums) at the Al-Americani Cultural Center. This event is being managed by Nuqat.

Supporting him are some of the best local musicians (humble innit):

1) Hussa Al-Humaidhi

2) Amin Fari

3) Basil Al-Hadi

4) Galaxy Juice Band

5) and me, Ali Sleeq

It's a free event, so don't say you have something better to do on a Thursday night!

Sunday, May 10, 2015

In what turned out to be my most bizarre gig (and believe me there have been many), was also one of the most memorable.

My agent called and asked if I would be willing to do a gig for KFC in the biggest mall in Kuwait. I'm not usually the person to say no to any gig, no matter how weird it sounds. I figure I will always have a story to tell my grandkids about.

Turns out the chain was going to do a meet and greet with Colonel Sanders himself (OK, he's not the real Colonel, but he's an approved copy!) and that he would be taking pictures and such with people.

Perhaps they underestimated his popularity.

Once my blues associate Zeus and I got on the stage, which I might add, had a huge Styrofoam chicken bucket prop on the side, and started jamming away the blues, the Colonel strolled his way down to the stage as if he was the fucking president. The mobs that swarmed him was like a scene from some riot.

We only got to do a few songs before the stage was invaded by the angry / delusional / spazzed crowd, which led us to evacuate. The colonel, in his brief moment of peace, thanked us and didn't believe we weren't from Mississippi (as per his words, not mine). We took a photograph, which will be cemented in modern history as the time we played the blues for the Colonel himself.

MILES DAVIS AT NEWPORT 1955-1975: THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 4 SCHEDULED FOR RELEASE JULY 17 THROUGH COLUMBIA/LEGACY RECORDINGS FOUR-CD BOX SET TRACKS MILES’ ASCENDANCE OVER EIGHT LIVE FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES SPANNING 20 YEARS IN NEWPORT, NEW YORK, BERLIN, AND SWITZERLAND; 296-MINUTE PROGRAM INCLUDES NEARLY FOUR HOURS OF PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MATERIAL.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Ishmon Bracy was an influential delta bluesman who was famous in the Mississippi and Tennessee circuit in the 30's-40's, along with another bluesman, Tommy Johnson. In the 50's he retired from blues and became a preacher, and didn't return to the blues.

His total recordings only count to 16, but were enough to put him in the history books.